Bupa Bellarine

Walk around Australia

In a resident focus group discussion in January 2010 residents agreed that exercise was important but that sometimes they did not feel motivated to exercise and that they wanted physiotherapy to be more fun, challenging and to do different things.

Angley et al 2001 explained the importance of not emphasising exercise is "good for you" but to make it enjoyable and sociable.

The "Walk around Australia" program meets this criteria as it encourages and promotes walking as an exercising activity, in a social and enjoyable way.

Distances were measured for the different walking area around theh ome and residents are encouraged and assisted to record their walking. The distance is then transferred to a map of Australia. The map of Australia is located in a central position in the home where residents are able to track their progress.

When the residents 'arrive' in a major city a celebration occurs and a letter of welcome from a representative of that community is given to the residents. This provides a social occasion where residents learn more about their country and feel connected to the different parts of Australia. During the celebrations residents reminisce about the places they have visited and previous holidays.

Walking for residents with dementia can be seen as problematic, being described as a behaviour called 'wandering' with residents often being encouraged to sit down or being given sedentary activities to do such as looking at books or activity boxes. Walk around Australia enables walking to be viewed as a desirable and normal activity for all residents.

Residents' endurance and activity level has improved with involvement in Walk around Australia. Residents feel proud of their achievements in walking so far and 'visiting' so many places.